Head Coach Henrik Rydström’s honeymoon period since arriving to Columbus came to an abrupt end following the Black & Gold’s 3-2 opening day loss on the road to the Portland Timbers. Despite a strong return from injury from forward Wessam Abou Ali who notched a goal and an assist, and an “MLS Goal of the Matchday” worthy strike from Diego Rossi, the Black & Gold fell short, giving up the deciding goal to Portland in the 88th minute follwoing a defensive lapse.

Speaking after the match, Rydström said he was dissapointed, and felt this performance fell below the team’s standard.

“Now I know myself so maybe I use too strong of words and then I’ll look at the game again this night, but I hardly believe that I will change my mind because I think we hid. When we had the ball, players were like, ‘I don’t show myself.’ I had some attacking players – I would say (Forwards) Wes (Abou Ali) and Diego (Rossi), they really stood out, but we need more players that do the same,” Rydström said. “We depended too much on their ability. There were some moments where I maybe can say that, ‘OK, the things we worked on in training, I saw that.’ We had some nice diagonal attacks where we hurt the opponent, but overall, no. Especially our build up was really, really below our standard. Disappointed.” 

The Timbers were particularly strong on the counter and directing crosses into the box, often leaving Black & Gold defenders with their backs to goal, chasing their opponents. Rydström emphasized that while giving up possession at times is part of the game, the mindset of his players needs to be geared toward not letting up, winning possession back quickly and preventing the opposition from gaining any advantage.

“We knew that the counterattacks and the crosses that our opponent was strong there. It’s amazing with football – life maybe, also – that you can prepare and you can be aware of things, but then for some reasons maybe you forget about it or you don’t do it, Rydström said. “I think the problem we had was mentally we overall didn’t take a step against them. The counterattacks were a little bit the same. Sometimes you lose the ball, but instead of us taking a step forward and lock their players in, we let them get out from situation, we let them drive against us and we let them turn with the ball.” 

Captain Sean Zawadzki spoke similarly of the Timbers’ conterattacks, but noted that his side managed the threat better in the second half.

“We talked about before the game, it’s what they wanted to do. They have really quick attackers. They know how to manipulate the team and really go on the counter and create their dangerous chances. I think we had numbers around the ball when the ball went wide and kind of left the middle a little too open, especially in the first half. I think the first half we played to their strengths,” Zawadzki said. “We left the middle open a little bit too much and allowed them to break on the counter. Obviously, two of their goals come in the first half, and I think they created a lot of chances through the counterattack and leaving that middle open. I think the second half you saw was an improvement on that. We organized a little bit better, and their chances dwindled a little bit. I think we felt a little bit more confident in that side of things.” 

While the late loss certainly wasn’t an ideal way to open the season, midfielder Amar Sejdic noted that there are lessons to take from it that can be to the betterment of the team ahead of a lengthy campaign.

“To concede a goal like that in the 8[8]th minute, when it comes down to let’s say like September, October, and we’re really fighting for, let’s say, a top four position, it hurts more later in the year,” Sejdic said. “So kind of geting that out of our hair now and to really use it as a way to learn and to continue moving forward because it’s a long season.”

Even with the inevitable changes that will come with Rydström’s arrival and the departure of club legend Darlington Nagbe, Sedjic says that the Black & Gold’s ambitions have not shifted.

“We still have the same core group of guys that have been here for several years now and at the end of the day, we know the quality that we have and the culture that we have as well,” Sedjic said. We’re the Columbus Crew. In our mind, top four is what we want to be every year.”

Up next, the Black & Gold gear up for another match on the road, this time against Sporting Kansas City. The Wizards suffered a 3-0 loss in their opening fixture against the San Jose Earthquakes, and finished bottom of the Western Conference last season. The match kicks off at 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, February 28 and is available to watch on Apple TV.